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Ghostly Mother and Child, Katsubunsai (detail)


Ghostly Mother and Child, Katsubunsai


Ghost beneath a Full Moon, Setsuo


Ghost beneath a Full Moon, Setsuo (detail)


Sea Monster, Utagawa Hoen


Ghost in the Rain, Hyodo Rinsei


Kohada Koheiji, Utagawa Kunitoshi (detail)


Kohada Koheiji, Utagawa Kunitoshi


Willow and the Moon, Koson


Ghost Seated Before a Mosquito Net, Kikuchi Yosai

These scans come from the book Japanese Ghost Paintings: The Sanyutei Encho Collection at Zensho-an (Perikansha Publishing, 1995), ISBN: 4-48315-0887-X. (In Japanese, with some basic info and abstracts in English.)

I fell into a blogging pitfall with this post, in that after scanning I realized the mighty Pink Tentacle covered this material in August 2008 (using a different book: Yureiga-shu: Zenshoan/Sanyutei Encho Collection, Zenshoan, 2000). I even chose three of the same images.

The paintings are so great I'm still sharing them, but definitely read Pink Tentacle's post for more images and authoritative information on them.

Basic info:

• "The Zensho-an collection of ghost paintings is a representative grouping of ghost paintings from Japan's pre-modern era."
• wiki stub on Encho.
• wiki page on Botan Doro
• Lafcadio Hearn's translation of Botan Doro ("A Passional Karma")

Fine titles of paintings not featured here:

• Ghost Gnawing Hair
• Ghost by a Pillow
• The Ghostly Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree

Previously: The strange visions of Utagawa Kuniyoshi